The Twycross Zoo in Leicestershire, U.K., has just announced the birth of an endangered Western Lowland gorilla. Born to parents Ozala and Oumbi on January 3, the yet-to-be-named baby's gender is still not known, because the mother is guarding it carefully.

The wildlife park said Ozala, who was born at Twycross in 1994, is a confident, attentive mother and is taking great care of her baby.

Charlotte Macdonald, curator of living collections, said: "Oumbie [the baby's father] is gentle but protective and is showing a lot of interest in the infant.

"On the day of the baby's birth he was very inquisitive, sitting beside Ozala and putting his face right up to the baby to smell it."

The infant, whose sex is not yet known, will stay close to its mother for the next couple of years but can be seen by visitors to the park.

According to IUCN Redlist of Threatened Species, Western lowland gorillas are perilously close to extinction due to hunting, habitat loss and the Ebola virus. There are now fewer than 100,000 left in the wild.